After becoming frustrated with having to climb down the mountain John talks about how his father was a volatile, and extremely complicated person. We also learn that his father is the one who taught John how to climb. Also, his father wanted him to go to Harvard Medical School and basically become a clone of him, but John ended up going far away and became a carpenter. We also find out that John’s father has polio and then developed post-polio syndrome. He heavily medicated himself and almost committed suicide. Thus he was put into a psychiatric hospital. Then John comes back into saying that after 3 days of not climbing Devil’s Thumb he attempts it again, but fails. Instead of going back to base camp he stays just below the high point which was a mistake because there was a major storm (it snowed about an inch an hour). After being covered by snow 5 times John makes it back down to the base. John decides that he is going to the southeast face and ends up climbing up the mountain. Now he feels like he accomplished something and wouldn’t be ridiculed at home by the people who said he wouldn’t be able to do it.
Chapter 18: Stampede Trail
Chris McCandless resumed his solitary life at his camp after finding the Teklanika uncrossable. He caught enough game to subsist for a month, and apparently spent that time hunting, gathering, and reading. At the end of that time, he "made the mistake that pulled him down". On July 30, his journal entry reads indicates that he was "extremly weak" and in "great jeopardy". He faulted "pot.seed" for his predicament. There have been many ideas as to what exactly caused Chris's death. It is possible that he ingested potato seeds he had brought in with him, which become toxic after they have begun to sprout. More probably, he might have mistakenly eaten a toxic plant that closely resembles an edible one, or have been poisoned by the mold growing on seeds that were ordinarily safe to consume. Whatever the case, Chris McCandless died of starvation on or around August 18, "112 days after he'd walked into the wild". The last book he read before dying was Doctor Zhivago; he may have had an epiphany before he died, because he noted in the book as "most vexing of all" the statement "happiness only real when shared". One of his last acts before crawling into his sleeping bag and slipping into unconsciousness was to take a picture of himself. In it, he looks emaciated but happy, and "at peace, serene as a monk gone to God" “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may god bless all!”
Epilogue Ten months after receiving the news of their son Chris's death, Billie and Walt McCandless visit the place where he met his end. At first their plan was to have had Butch Killian drive them in on his all-terrain vehicle, but at the last minute, Killian calls to tell them that the Teklanika River, the same river that Chris had been finally unable to cross, was running "too high...to cross safely". Billie and Walt arrange to go in by helicopter instead, and were able to cover in "fifteen minutes...the distance it took Chris four days to walk". Walt is "distracted, irritable, (and) edgy" at the prospect of this return, while Billie feels "calm and centered and has been looking forward to this trip for some time". When they arrive at the bus, Billie and Walt spend time exploring the area in and around where their son died. Billie sits on the mattress where Chris's body was found, and thinks "He must have been very brave...at the end, not to do himself in". Walt, after a time, admits that he is glad they came, and that he is "a little less baffled" about what drove his son to do what he did. Billie leaves a suitcase stocked with supplies in the bus for anyone who might happen to need it. Although "the fact that Chris is gone is a sharp hurt she will feel every single day", she is glad she came...and finds it "comforting to know Chris was there”
Chapter 15: The Stikine Ice Cap
After becoming frustrated with having to climb down the mountain John talks about how his father was a volatile, and extremely complicated person. We also learn that his father is the one who taught John how to climb. Also, his father wanted him to go to Harvard Medical School and basically become a clone of him, but John ended up going far away and became a carpenter. We also find out that John’s father has polio and then developed post-polio syndrome. He heavily medicated himself and almost committed suicide. Thus he was put into a psychiatric hospital. Then John comes back into saying that after 3 days of not climbing Devil’s Thumb he attempts it again, but fails. Instead of going back to base camp he stays just below the high point which was a mistake because there was a major storm (it snowed about an inch an hour). After being covered by snow 5 times John makes it back down to the base. John decides that he is going to the southeast face and ends up climbing up the mountain. Now he feels like he accomplished something and wouldn’t be ridiculed at home by the people who said he wouldn’t be able to do it.
Chapter 18: Stampede Trail
Chris McCandless resumed his solitary life at his camp after finding the Teklanika uncrossable. He caught enough game to subsist for a month, and apparently spent that time hunting, gathering, and reading. At the end of that time, he "made the mistake that pulled him down". On July 30, his journal entry reads indicates that he was "extremly weak" and in "great jeopardy". He faulted "pot.seed" for his predicament. There have been many ideas as to what exactly caused Chris's death. It is possible that he ingested potato seeds he had brought in with him, which become toxic after they have begun to sprout. More probably, he might have mistakenly eaten a toxic plant that closely resembles an edible one, or have been poisoned by the mold growing on seeds that were ordinarily safe to consume. Whatever the case, Chris McCandless died of starvation on or around August 18, "112 days after he'd walked into the wild". The last book he read before dying was Doctor Zhivago; he may have had an epiphany before he died, because he noted in the book as "most vexing of all" the statement "happiness only real when shared". One of his last acts before crawling into his sleeping bag and slipping into unconsciousness was to take a picture of himself. In it, he looks emaciated but happy, and "at peace, serene as a monk gone to God" “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may god bless all!”
Epilogue
Ten months after receiving the news of their son Chris's death, Billie and Walt McCandless visit the place where he met his end. At first their plan was to have had Butch Killian drive them in on his all-terrain vehicle, but at the last minute, Killian calls to tell them that the Teklanika River, the same river that Chris had been finally unable to cross, was running "too high...to cross safely". Billie and Walt arrange to go in by helicopter instead, and were able to cover in "fifteen minutes...the distance it took Chris four days to walk". Walt is "distracted, irritable, (and) edgy" at the prospect of this return, while Billie feels "calm and centered and has been looking forward to this trip for some time". When they arrive at the bus, Billie and Walt spend time exploring the area in and around where their son died. Billie sits on the mattress where Chris's body was found, and thinks "He must have been very brave...at the end, not to do himself in". Walt, after a time, admits that he is glad they came, and that he is "a little less baffled" about what drove his son to do what he did. Billie leaves a suitcase stocked with supplies in the bus for anyone who might happen to need it. Although "the fact that Chris is gone is a sharp hurt she will feel every single day", she is glad she came...and finds it "comforting to know Chris was there”